The Freezer Light Still Worked is a Route 66 story about finding quiet resilience in unexpected places, even when life feels half-empty.
Some days stretch long and flat, like the road outside Kingman, sun-baked and stuck in place. That was me, pulled off the highway into an old roadside market, the kind with creaky wood steps and a screen door that slams like punctuation.
I wasn’t really hungry. Just restless. I wandered the aisles like maybe clarity was shelved somewhere between the canned peaches and expired sunscreen.
This little shop in Kingman has seen its share of stories, and I probably never would’ve stopped if it weren’t for my good friend Jim Hinckley, author of the book Travel Route 66: A Guide to the History, Sights, and Destinations Along the Main Street of America. It’s funny how voices like Jim’s make you notice the small things, even something as ordinary as a humming freezer light. By The Way, his podcast Coffee With Jim has become a roadside institution of its own as well.
Opening the Freezer
In the back, I opened the freezer. It was nearly empty, a half-melted bag of ice and a couple of faded popsicles. But the moment I opened the door, the light blinked on. Soft. Automatic. Unbothered.
And for some reason, that small moment hit me right in the heart.
The Light Still Worked
Lately, life’s felt a little like that freezer, emptied by circumstances I didn’t choose, chilled by things I can’t control. But the light still worked. Still flicked on. Still showed up when the door opened.
That quiet resilience… it said more than any sermon.
✨ Roadside Reflection – The Freezer Light Still Worked
Hope doesn’t always come roaring in. Sometimes it hums behind a freezer door, waiting to be noticed.
If your light still shines in quiet moments — when things crack open, when something shifts — that’s not small. That’s holy.
I never expected Route 66 to heal me in the way it did, but as the Route 66 Chaplain, I’ve seen it heal others too. Keep showing up. Even half-empty, your light still matters.
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